Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and a pool of international financial institutions on the signing of a strategic partnership with Tanger Med, the leading industrial port complex in the Mediterranean, to expand the truck and passenger terminal.

The project represents a total investment of €400 million. IFC’s €197 million investment will be the first sustainability-linked loan in Morocco and among the first in the port sector in emerging markets globally.

A pool of international lenders, led by JP Morgan, is supporting the project with a €203 million commercial loan, and MIGA is providing a guarantee to cover these lenders over a 15-year period.

This partnership will strengthen Morocco’s position as a major maritime and logistics hub. The Tanger Med complex is the leading container port in Africa and the Mediterranean, with direct maritime connectivity to 180 ports and 70 countries. The terminal expansion will increase Tanger Med’s capacity to handle truck flows to more than 1 million units. In 2023, Tanger Med Port Complex handled 477,000 trucks.

The cross-border and multi-disciplinary Norton Rose Fulbright team advising on this financing was led by Paris-based finance partner and global co-head of transport Christine Ezcutari, assisted by senior associates Fabien Communier and Julie Walton, and associate Alexandre Paturel. They advised JP Morgan and the pool of lenders as well as MIGA.

A Morocco-based team, led by partner Alain Malek and counsel Anne-Laure Bernard-Bouissières advised on the Moroccan law aspects.

The London-based team advising IFC was led by energy, infrastructure and resources consultant Andrew Hart, assisted by associate Jens Nessow.
Source: Norton Rose Fulbright